University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
21. Special education. The institution provides an orientation to special education targeted to the grade levels at which the candidate intends to teach. All classroom teachers need to understand the basics of special education, including its legal framework and a working knowledge of instructional strategies for students with high-incidence disabilities.
The institution meets this standard because it has established a coherent design for delivering special education instruction, including having targeted the coursework to the candidates’ relevant grade levels.
22. Preparation efficiency. The institution offers an efficient program of study, as indicated by the required credit hours needed for completion. With no evidence that an excess of professional coursework requirements produces better teachers, it is sensible to keep requirements within reasonable bounds that won’t deter talented individuals contemplating a career in teaching.
The institution meets the standard. The number of semester hours necessary to complete the professional sequence is within acceptable bounds. The program requires 23 hours of professional coursework (not including student teaching).
23. Course frequency. The institution offers all required courses at least once each year to make it possible to complete the program in a timely fashion. Programs that cannot be completed on time create a disincentive to pursue the teaching profession.
The institution fully meets this standard because it offers all required courses each year.
Program Evaluation 24. Graduate outcomes. The institution tracks graduate outcomes such as employment and retention. The institution fully meets this standard. Documents obtained from the institution indicate that the institution regularly collects data regarding its graduates’ retention rates and job performance.
25. Graduates' effectiveness. The institution fully utilizes any available data provided by the state or school districts to measure the effectiveness of its teacher graduates in order to make program improvements. Mirroring a similar commitment now found in K-12 education, higher education institutions must embrace data-driven decision making and accountability in preparing teachers.
Though the institution surveys principals on the performance of graduates, it does not meet our standard because it does not collect data on the performance of graduates' students.
Faculty 26. Faculty expertise. The institution mirrors the scholarship practiced in other fields by not expecting faculty members to teach multiple disparate disciplines. Only the most extreme examples of unsuitable assignments are noted here, such as one instructor teaching courses in the history of education, human learning and secondary biology methods.
The institution meets the standard because it appears to respect the scholarship of its faculty, not assigning instructors to teach coursework in disparate fields of study, such as, foundations of education, methods and educational psychology.
27-32.
These standards pertain to preparation of elementary teachers. They were not evaluated because they are not relevant to secondary teacher preparation.
www.nctq.org/edschoolreports
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